A Derry dad has created a new children's book to help kids with their emotions due to difficulties his family faced during the pandemic.
Damien Carlin's daughter Aoife suffered massively from anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic, which even led to her being hospitalised.
To help his daughter with her emotional wellbeing, Damien created 'Eva Finds Her Smile' to be read as a bedtime story.
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Damien spoke to MyDerry about finding light in the difficult times he and his family faced, and creating this book to help other parents and children in this emotionally distressing time.
He said: "My daughter Aoife started displaying some strange symptoms in April 2020. It is difficult to describe but it was almost as if she was experiencing hallucinations along with a breakdown. She was only 3 and a half at that time.
"We contacted our GP who told us to take Aoife straight to the paediatric unit of Altnagelvin hospital.
"The doctors could not believe that a child so young could have a serious mental health condition and instead assumed that she had meningitis or encephalitis.
"This led to Aoife having to undergo a very stressful week of lumbar punctures, MRI, antibiotics, antivirals, blood tests and a stay in the covid ward while they investigated the cause.
"When no physical cause could be found we were basically discharged and left to our own devices."
At home, Damien wanted to be able to ease his daughter's distress, so he created 'Eva Finds Her Smile'.
He said: "I came up with the idea of putting her experience into a bedtime story and this had an immediate impact on her emotions and it helped her to talk about how she was feeling.
"It also helped her to process the symptoms she developed as a result of her stay in hospital.
"Her ability to now talk to us allowed us to understand that the cause of Aoife's episode was a mixture of the lockdown and further stress added by the impending welcoming of a new baby into our family."
Since the creation of his book, Damien now wants to help other families whose children may be struggling with their emotions, particularly coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: "My aim is now to get the book out to as many children as possible. I have recently gone on a book tour of schools in Derry and the response among the children has been phenomenal and overwhelming.
"The children really opened up and were more confident in recognising anxiety symptoms and how to get help in dealing with this.
"I genuinely believe that this book can make a massive difference in the lives of children and their families."
'Eva Finds Her Smile' can be purchased here.
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